Baron's Green Racers (Babies)

Baron's Green Racers (Philodryas baroni), also known as the Argentine Long Nose Snake.

Distribution - Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay

Venom - Being Rear-fanged, they possess a toxic saliva which is transferred to the prey or bite victim with the help of enlarged teeth in the back of the mouth. Although some rear-fanged snakes are dangerous to humans, no fatalities have been recorded for this species. And although symptoms occur with envenomation, this snake is not considered to be dangerous to humans. A 22-year-old man was reported bitten with the following symptoms: immediate, slight burning pain at the bite wound, evident swelling after five minutes, whole hand swollen after one hour with petechial haemorrhages in the skin, swelling progressing to mid-forearm level, ecchymoses along the line of lymphatics up to axilla. Recovery complete within 48 hours.

Description

There are green specimens, blue ones as well as brown ones. Their patterns are sometimes uniform, but they usually have black stripes running down their backs.

Behavior

They have a relatively interesting diurnal behavior, showing intense activity during the day and clearly preferring the higher parts of their enclosure. Contrary to other Philodryas species, P. baroni shows very little signs of aggressiveness.